We knew George Strait couldn’t keep from stirring for too long. Though he played his final shows as a touring artist in 2014 on his way to racking up astronomical numbers for his farewell junket and finding himself being named Entertainer of the Year by both the CMA and ACM Awards for the effort, you had to know he wouldn’t sit tight for good.

Announced on Tuesday (9-22) at noon Texas time via a streaming press conference from Las Vegas, George Strait is releasing a new album Cold Beer Conversation exclusively via Wal-Mart and Apple Music on September 25th (yes, this Friday). A new single “Cold Beer Conversation” is also on its way.

Also announced as part of the Las Vegas press conference, George Strait will be one of the first performers to take the stage at the new Las Vegas Arena currently under construction. King George will perform at shows on April 22nd and 23rd, and September 9th and 10th. It’s not necessarily a Las Vegas residency, but it is George Strait returning to live performance. Kacey Musgraves will be the opener for the Las Vegas shows.

Cold Beer Conversation has an impressive list of songwriting contributors, not limited to Jamey Johnson, Brandy Clark, Bill Anderson, George’s son Bubba, a George himself is responsible for a couple of co-writes. You can find the full track list below via Windmills Country.

“I think it’s a great record. I always say this, but I think it’s the best record I’ve done,” George said at the press conference. “You got to go into the studio thinking that way.”

71 Comments

Cooper
September 22, 2015 @
10:48 am

Kind of bummed that George pulled a Garth and is only making it available through certain outlets, I’ll just have to get on the Apple Music bandwagon I guess. It doesn’t matter too much though because we’re getting new music from The King and that is always a great thing for country music!

Yeah, that’s pretty crazy. It might as well be a surprise album. Not sure what the strategy is there but it does have folks buzzing. Poor Clint Black can’t catch a break getting out of the shadow of George.

It isn’t like George Strait is getting much airplay anymore with newer single releases (“Let It Go” missed the Top Forty altogether, and is the second-worst chart performance of his career only to “I Believe”, which was the second single from his preceding release) so he can basically buck standard release schedules at this point in his career.

I can’t say I’m happy this is an Apple exclusive either, but I’ll wait until cuts roll out on YouTube or something to enjoy.

The new Friday release date has been terrible for music in my opinion, and terrible for me because I just don’t know when is a good time to post reviews. Fridays and the weekends are off peak times. By Monday everyone has moved on. And I think this affects independent artists more because their promotional budgets don’t have the umpf to power through a weekend.

Agreed. I don’t understand it at all, especially since as we have seen with the Ryan Adams album….can’t you as an artist/band send out your music whenever you want? Or is this a case of the labels and bands trying to play nice with the few remaining record stores and big box stores that still carry albums.

I don’t know how the industry is down south, but here in Canada it’s nearly impossible to grab CDs/vinyl from traditional storefronts. Mail order is an option (because we’ve apparently reverted back to 1995), but shipping is huge to get things across the border. You can go to WalMart & get some of the biggest releases, which Strait should fall under, but since my tastes generally lean left of center, I have to listen to folks like Lucero & Isbell through Spotify while I wait a month for my album to come in. It’s frustrating. Now with the Friday release date, it’s even worse because not only do I have to go to a WalMart to see if I can find an album, but they NEVER stock them on release date. Work/family commitments keep me from shopping during the week, but I used to be able to grab new releases on Friday/Saturday. Now I have to wait at least a full week, if not longer for mail order. It’s become very frustrating to be a music fan who is invested in traditional packaging. If I get an MP3 album, I forget about it within a week or two. If I have a physical I listen to it for hundreds of hours in my vehicle. Which one has a longer lasting impact??

Saw this on my facebook page. I can’t wait to hear it. Well, good thing I won’t be waiting long. I like the songwriters’ list. It will be interesting to see if we hear anything different from him now that the pressure to perform on radio is pretty much gone.

Awesome! I’m going to have to save my pennies for a long road trip. Kinda bummed about Kacey bring the opener. She was the worst act at Farm Aid last weekend; really turned me off to her for good. 11 acts on the stage at Farm Aid and she was the only one challenging the sound guy. Finger up, finger down, waving hands and mouthing words all throughout her set. Just play your boring 30 minutes and get off the stage. 1/2 these people hear won’t remember your name tomorrow.
I was always holding back judgement until I saw her live (and maybe Farm Aid isn’t the appropriate setting), but she comes off as an iced bitch.

“I”™m very excited to be coming back out and playing for the fans out there. I”™m really looking forward to it so much. Come April, it”™ll be about a year and 10 months since I performed with my band ”¦ It”™s gonna be exciting to get back out there again. I”™m looking forward to singing those songs that I love so much.”

There’s no change to the band lineup from what I hear. What George did was just say he’s not going to do a steady tour anymore. He always said that he’d still play select shows when he wanted, but he wouldn’t be on the bus for months at a time. So he’ll go do 2 Vegas shows in April, head to the Ranch in Texas for a few months, go back to Vegas for the September shows and if he feels like it play Rodeo X in the spring.

Exclusivity sucks for fans, while it may be great for George Strait and his team and surely having the largest retailer and the largest tech giant in his corner pushing his new album is great for him…kinda sucks for the fans. I’m not in the mood to support Wal-Mart nor do I own an iPhone so I guess I am S.O.L until the exclusivity window ends whenever that will be.

Still, looks like it has the making of a great album and that’s what matters most.

I’m debating whether or not to go to Walmart myself. With Steve Martin/Edie Brickel AND Jason Boland both readying new albums, I don’t know if I want to spend twenty bucks at a store I don’t frequent… This coming few weeks will see some amazing music released…

My guess is in the case of Garth and George….well not to stereotype their audiences, but chances are Wal-Mart figures they are artists where their fans still actually buy albums. So far all of the Wal-Mart exclusives have been bands or artists that reached their peak in the 70’s,80’s or 90’s and probably have a large number of fans that still get their music exclusively through CD’s and radio.

True, but I find iTunes to be a pain in the ass. Sorry, first world problems and all that, but as an Android user…well buying the album digitally from Google or Amazon is much preferred because I don’t have to jump through so many hoops to actually listen to it once I buy it.

When Garth was explaining why anyone should care about GhostTunes, all I could think about is the fact that once you buy the CD, you have the MP3s… You can buy his CDs for $5 in stores, $10 on GT. Why would you buy the songs you already own twice??

If this does get any airplay on MSM….maybe it will get a few nominations for the ACM’s next yr?. I’m just anxious to hear NEW Music from George Strait ! Someone has gotta step up and save us from the Insanity that is now labeled Country Music.

George released “Take Me to Texas” for that terrible History Channel blunder called The Alamo. The song was the best part of the mini series and was played for the credits. I also heard it on some Texas Radio stations for a little bit. I thought it was a damned good song and has the classic George Strait story telling style. George (for the most part) knows how to pick a good song and the list of writers is evidence. I’m looking forward to it.

“I bought the first seven George Strait albums on vinyl. Then I stopped buying them when I realized he was making the same record over and over. Why buy a record that you already have?”

I hear you . I love George …..and for every 2 or 3 dogs he releases to radio he makes up for it with a killer write , in my opinion . But his last albums have been a bit formulaic in terms of sameness and always include a couple of real ” lowest- common- denominator -pleasers ‘ ( radio ear-candy ) . I understand that even King George has to play the game , to some extent , but because he’s keeping it country and keeping country players in his band and on his records and remaining faithful to his longtime fan base by playing country music at his shows , I can forgive him for his occasional lapses in song choices. Besides ,,,he still has the most AWESOME production values on his studio stuff . George or AJ or Tim McGraw putting out a record with even half a dozen great songs on it is still half a dozen more great songs than anybody else can seem to find .

I’m an enormous George Strait fan, but I can understand why some fans feel the way you do. He is definitely a “catalog” artist, who gave us a vast amount of quality material. But, I’ll admit, nothing necessarily groundbreaking. He had a formula that worked and he stuck to it. I appreciate a humble singer of songs, myself. But I do actually hope that semi-retirement might allow him to take some more risks in his music, even if its subtle.

Pretty excited. Will be picking it up on Friday. Also can’t wait to pick up a copy of album turnpike troubadours. Can’t stand buying albums off iTunes…i happen to be in Albany Ga working and the mall by the hotel has an FYE. Might have to stop by there on my out of town and grab the album.

What an insult to fans forcing us to buy it where we don’t want to. I have my entire George Strait collection (every album but this one) in Amazon so why can’t I add this one to the rest of them? It will be a cold day in hell I go to Walmart, and I hate i-tunes, even for George Strait. As much as I really want this, I’m going to pass until the label respects fans and freedom of choice again.

I was in downtown Nashville yesterday and the Ernest Tubb Record Shop was closed so it could be converted to the George Strait “Strait From Texas” Store. This is part of a special promotion for the next 2 weeks and is an opportunity for someone to support a small store.
The website is: http://www.etrecordshop.com